Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has signed several agreements among them on the long-term supply of Russian natural gas to Hungary and joint manufacturing of 700 rail cars for Egypt at the 20th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.
The Hungarian foreign minister held talks with Russia's Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, with the CEO of Gazprom Alexei Miller, with Minister of Energy Alexander Novak and with Rosatom CEO Sergei Kiriyenko.

Szijjártó told MTI that under the revised natural gas supply contract Hungary's gas supply is guaranteed until 2019. Szijjártó added that the price of the Russian natural gas is very attractive.

"Despite anti-Russian sanction by the west, there is a very fierce competition going on among European Union member states to pursue closer cooperation with Russia, especially in the energy and industry sectors. We Hungarians have also entered into this competition" said Szijjártó.

It is clear that Russia will remain Europe's number one energy supplier in the foreseeable future. Russia increased its natural gas sales to Europe in the last year by 8 percent; and in the first 5 months of this year by 16 percent the foreign minister added.

Szijjártó informed his Russian partners that preparations of the construction of Paks Nuclear Power Plant has been progressing according to plans as the European Commission's procedure to review the project has been completed; as a result, nothing can block the construction of the power plant; if everything goes according to plans the nuclear power plant can start producing electricity in the 2020s.

Szijjártó also talked about Rosatom's plan to involve Hungarian Electricity Company (MVM) in the construction of other ongoing nuclear power plants. The foreign minister pointed out that currently, Rosatom builds six more nuclear power plants outside Russia.